Totally lost with foundations - please help!

[Blackbird1234]

I'll try to keep this brief - I've essentially bought 3 different foundations in as many weeks, all of them have been disappointing and I obviously can't send them back, so I'm here for some advice/help, please!

I'm 25, my skin is fairly good with a couple of breakouts a month, a little bit of redness and it's quite oily. I've always used liquid foundations but over the past few months they've literally been sliding off my face after a few hours, so I tried 3 different powder foundations:

• Lily Lolo mineral foundation powder - I had high hopes but it doesn't offer enough coverage and looks a bit chalky on me, certainly didn't last all day.
• Maybelline Gemey - Looked good for the first day and thought I'd found "the one" but now it's looking quite cakey on my face and not long-lasting.
• NYX Matte But Not Flat - Thought this would be great because of the reviews, but it seems there's actual highlighter within the powder foundation and it's making me look ridiculous and as if I've literally plastered highlighter everywhere.

I'm looking for a foundation (liquid or powder) that has the following criteria:

• Long-lasting
• Very natural, I don't like it to look like I'm wearing anything
• Medium coverage
• Good for oily skin / mattifying
• Doesn't make me look like a corpse (my skin has been looking extremely dull these past few weeks due to the foundations)
• Around the £30 mark
• Can be found on Feelunique etc as I'm not in the UK

If anyone can offer any help/advice, please do! I've been using brushes to apply all of the above, don't know if I'm doing anything wrong?

Also, just in case anyone asks - I have a good skincare routine and cleanse/moisturise twice a day every day.

Thank you in advance!

I agree with a pp about applying foundation with a damp beauty blender and patting it on - made a massive difference to me with any foundation.

Revlon Colorstay. If you look carefully at the pots one type is for oily skin, one for dry. I'm in my late 40s and have tried a lot, but of the less expensive brands. This is my favourite, though I also like a few others. It has good coverage but doesn't look like you have iyswim.

I wouldn’t use the soap on your face - swap for either micellar as first step or a low foaming face wash after your squalene cleanser.

Secondly stop using the cica balm. My skin is normal and even I would find it rich.

Change to a lighter formulation with a hydrating serum before

I would recommend the ordinary coverage foundation orn maybelline fit me

Otherwise
Fenty pro filter
Lancome teint idole

MAC Studio Fix fluid for me. It's £27, so within your budget. Many many shades as well.

I've just discovered that Bobbi Brown Nude tinted moisturizer is amazing - but perhaps less coverage than you're after.

Another vote for double wear, I mix mine with a small amount of moisturiser so it’s easier to apply and goes further. It lasts all day without going cakey or orange like some of my previous foundations have done.

I use Estée Lauder double wear which is full coverage but I mix with a tiny bit of moisturiser and one pump does my whole face and use NYX dewy setting spray and looks dewy rather than heavy, lasts all day and I recommend using a damp beauty blender x

I couldn't get a good match with Doublewear so I use a lightening cream with it which works well.

I love Double Wear - I use the normal one and Light and they’re both really good. I don’t like the heavy foundation look so I use a stippling brush to make it really sheer. If I ever try other foundations they feel sticky and horrible after an hour or two and start breaking up & oxidizing.

If you could get hold of Revlon Colorstay for oily/combination skin then I think it might suit you. A lot less than £30 also! Check out some of the online reviews/Youtube videos for it.

Definitely get samples. Estée Lauder will fill a sample bottle for you. I find it lasts me a couple of weeks. Lancome also do sample bottles. I wouldn't consider spending £30+ on a foundation that I couldn't try at home a few times first. I really like EL Nude Waterfresh but I have drier skin than you.

You are using a lot of quite oily products when you have oily spot prone skin. The Cicaplast I'd only ever use if I have a sore nose after a cold!

When you say you don't exfoliate because it breaks you out in spots, what have you been using to exfoliate?

It sounds like you just don't have properly controlled spots if you have a couple of breakouts a month and your skin is oily, and you would be better with a less oily moisturiser like Cerave PM, and controlling your oil and spots with salicyclic acid e.g Paula's Choice BHA.

As ever, make one change at a time, wait 4 weeks for a whole skin cycle as skin doesn't like change and you need your product to be working on new skin being formed to know it is really suiting you.

And any acid exfoliator will prob cause breakouts if you just use it once in a while. You need to use it daily for your skin to be not in shock from the change.

Well, looks like Estee Lauder Double Wear is winning by a mile, so I'll pop in when I'm next in the area and see what they can do for me and I'll try a damp beauty blender and a stippling brush with it and see what it looks like - fingers crossed this is "the one", if not, I'll start trying the other recommendations. Is the EL Double Wear buildable? As in the summer I really don't want anything heavy on my face at all.

justforthetasteofit I'll see what I can find online this afternoon and get a couple of testers, it sounds really good as well! :)

nowwhatusernameshallihave That's interesting, why isn't the baby soap a good idea? I figured it would be good to get the biggest layer of makeup off as it's so gentle. Also, why shouldn't I use cica 5 every day? I thought that it was great as an overnight moisturiser?

annamagnini To be completely honest, I'm rather lost when it comes to skincare and just try and follow advice that I see online, although everyone seems to have a different opinion. I'd be quite happy with buying a big pack of products suitable for my skin rather than sampling from different companies - do you have any recommendations? I only use natural exfoliators, I tried the Loreal exfoliating pink clay one, but that breaks me out. I now just use any natural exfoliator that I can find whilst out and about, maybe not the best quality!

Double Wear is definitely buildable. And if you get a good colour match you can just use it where you need to - in the summer I tend to just buff it into my t-zone where I need it more.

Hm, I've just done some reading and it seems that Double Wear is quite a full coverage and I just don't think that that's what I'm looking for. I want my skin to still look like skin and really can't stand the "caked" full coverage look on me. For reference, the only other makeup I use it the absolute tiniest bit of bronzer and some mascara, so I'm really going for a very natural look. Should I buy something else?

Yes, Double Wear is far too heavy for me. Try the Bobbi Brown I recommended upthread. It’s brilliant.

Your skin sounds like my daughters and she has tried every foundation and Bobbi brown was best for her. X

Fenty Pro Filtr matte is the best I’ve ever had. It’s got all the best properties of Double Wear but with none of the drawbacks.

It’s lovely and natural but buildable and when it does eventually fade it just gently disappears, no pooling in laughter lines or pores. Brilliant shade range too.

I think you should start a new thread just on skincare. The L'Oreal pink clay isn't really much of an exfoliator - yes clay will absorb oil that day but that's all it does.

And you should never exfoliate with scrubby particles as it doesn't do anything useful to your skin - the bits are either too big to get in your pores to exfoliate properly, or big enough to damage it.

You would have skin you are much happier with if you had better skincare products from the start. And natural isn't always best - by the time L-Oreal have processed all of those ingredients, that product is a long way from 'natural'. You could just buy something that works.

Urban Decay Stay Naked foundation. Apply with a damp beauty blender type sponge.

Soo many shades though, so get properly matched. It also matches you online if you answer the questions, although not sure I'd chance that x

Estee double wear light is great. Light to medium coverage, great tones, easy to apply. Not cakey at all.

Doublewear powder foundation is the business. Quick light once over with the sponge and you're done.

OP if you're worried about it looking too heavy get a sample of DW light, and of DW nude, which I've never tried but is supposed to be the most natural looking.

Estee Lauder Double Wear Light

alsohuman and millymoo1202 I'll look into Bobbi Brown, it's not a brand I've ever used as it's not available where I am, so hopefully I can get some samples online, thank you :)

notexactlyhappytohelp Another lady has recommended Fenty as well, so I will be looking into that - it has really good reviews!

annamagnani Yes that's probably a good idea, I'll start one in the next couple of days, thank you. Overall, I'm very happy with my skin, the majority of the time it's quite clear with really just the odd tiny spot and a breakout around my period, it's mainly the oiliness that bugs me.
I used to only use completely natural products that were great and I was very happy with them, but nowadays there are all sort of "new" products with chemicals and acids etc that all look like a chemistry set, it's really confusing and you seemingly need to apply 20 products a night, I just can't keep up!

I'd recommend using the B5 baume cream at night instead of in the morning and see if that makes a difference. I find using it under my make up makes my foundation "fall off" and smudges my mascara.